Devour
by Etc Flip
Summary: A starving child can only handle so much before the need for sustenance becomes unbearable. Naruto and the Kyuubi figure out a way to fulfill their hunger without the pesky need of consuming physical food. One-shot.


**Summary: A starving child can only handle so much before the need for sustenance becomes unbearable. Naruto and the Kyuubi figure out a way to fulfill their hunger without the pesky need of consuming physical food.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
**

* * *

Devour

Really, he was just a child. A young, six-year-old child who would be attending the ninja academy the following year.

Yet, even a child can be looked down upon. Shunned, hated, spat upon... rejected. With such negative feelings towards him, how could he obtain food? How could he remove that gnawing hunger that never seemed to leave him?

His stomach rumbled angrily. Naruto hadn't eaten for days. Water was easy enough to find; no matter how dirty the water could be, he could never get sick. Rotten food would still make him vomit simply from the taste, though.

All around him, adults stared at him, not caring about his loud stomach. He asked for food, for bread, for _anything_ that could remove that insatiable craving! No one cared, no one relented. They simply told him to hunt for his own food.

A demon was supposed to do that, after all.

He couldn't even reach his foster grandfather, the Hokage of the village. He was busy with his duties and Naruto knew he would be ushered away by the secretary before he could reach his grandfather.

Naruto could try and pull a prank, but he was too weak. Even now, he was stumbling along the road. The lack of food made his body slow; clumsy. He was unable to stop himself from falling forward to the ground.

A man walked up to him and sneered before laughing at his discomfort. Naruto tried to cry, but he couldn't. The distracting, insatiable craving stopped him. He needed food. He was _hungry_.

He needed sustenance. The whispering in his head told him how to get it.

When the man prodded Naruto with his foot, the blond boy grabbed the bare ankle with his childish hands. The man laughed at the boy's defiance before he felt his body becoming weaker...

Energy! Glorious energy! The man began to scream as he tried to run, but the blond's grip was strong, and his health quickly returning...

The Kyuubi laughed as the man's corpse was left on the street. Naruto, happy for once that his insatiable hunger was gone for the moment, ignored the corpse and went on his way. He wouldn't care as long as that hunger was fulfilled...

The Anbu removed the desiccated corpse from the streets.

The following day, a concerned Hokage attempted to take the blond out to eat, but Naruto simply said, "No worries, old man! I'm not hungry right now!"

The Hokage was not Hokage for no reason. He was a cautious man and so, ordered additional supervision on Naruto. No one had witnessed Naruto actually kill the man, but the Hokage wanted to know.

* * *

As the years passed, the Hokage quickly found out that Naruto could hide if he wanted. He also found out that Naruto never ate. Or rather, no one saw him eat. They saw him drinking from the river, but never eating.

Bodies would sometimes appear. Desiccated corpses drained of their metabolic energy and left to rot in alleyways. They were always targets that were quite vocal about Konoha's resident "demon brat".

The Hokage knew Naruto was somehow behind the bodies, but there was no evidence! The blond's infuriating stealth and stamina allowed him to stay away from the Anbu who were assigned to watch him.

He had had a lot of practice, especially with running away from people pissed about his pranks.

It wasn't until graduation day where Naruto failed that the Hokage had an actual witness.

Iruka had found Naruto reading the forbidden scroll he had stolen from the Hokage's office. When questioned, Naruto gave a childish response that immediately put his sensei on edge.

Mizuki was a traitor of Konoha and had hoped to kill Naruto before making off with the forbidden scroll the blond had pilfered. When confronted, he gave a maniacal monologue, revealing to Naruto the reason why everyone hated him.

Naruto's response stunned them both. "The whispering?" he had said. "That's the Kyuubi? But the Kyuubi is my friend. The Kyuubi lets me eat."

Mizuki, angry that has speech hadn't broken Naruto down, threw his large shuriken at the blond, hoping to kill him. He didn't expect the boy to move on his own and summon hundreds of clones, each pummeling Mizuki down for betraying Konoha.

Iruka, proud that his student had been able to use such a powerful jutsu, told him to close his eyes. Naruto's response was, "Hang on, Iruka-sensei. I'm hungry."

Iruka's offer to take Naruto out for ramen was ignored. The blond went over to Mizuki's bruised body and pressed a hand to his bare skin. There was a faint glow, and then Mizuki screamed. And screamed.

The screaming would forever be imprinted into a horrified Iruka's mind as he watched his traitorous friend's body become thin and gaunt. When Mizuki's screaming stopped, Naruto turned to face Iruka.

Naruto's face horrified Iruka more than the screaming. It was manic, filled with glee at the prospect of having its hunger sated.

Iruka, not trusting his voice, handed the headband to Naruto and left to notify the Hokage both about the whispering and how Naruto... satisfied his hunger.

* * *

On the road to Wave, Naruto was happy. He wasn't really hungry and he was out on his first C-rank mission. The Hokage had been hesitant, but he didn't mind.

When the two chunin from Kirigakure attacked, Naruto smiled wildly. Two more meals! More energy, more nutrition! More sustenance!

When Team 7 continued onwards, Naruto leaned down to the two angry Kiri nin and said, "I'm hungry. Won't you two dine with me?" and he devoured their lives, taking the energy of their bodies and adding it to his own.

Their screams were muffled by their masks.

When Zabuza appeared, the Kyuubi whispered in his head, saying how powerful the man was. How good a meal he would be. He would be _delicious_.

Unfortunately, the sword-wielder was incapacitated by another ninja, one that had stolen his meal.

Fortunately, the ninja was assumed to be an accomplice of Zabuza's. All Naruto had to wait. His meals would come to him, after all.

The hunter ninja came up to him as he was resting. Naruto recognized the chakra signature immediately and when the foe leaned down to strangle him, Naruto leapt up and grabbed his neck. Both of them were deep in the woods. No one could hear him scream.

When an irate Zabuza returned to the bridge, he was handily defeated by Kakashi and Team 7. Naruto was only slightly miffed that Zabuza was killed before he could touch him, but his hunger was sated for the moment.

When Gato showed up with his goons, Naruto cloned himself many times over and rushed the mob per Kakashi's instruction. Their horrific screams caused the genin and townspeople to realize something was wrong.

It caused Kakashi to realize that the Hokage was right.

* * *

Naruto felt proud of himself. He had gone through the first exam without giving in to his hunger! Now he was in the Forest of Death and killing was completely allowed. No one could fault him if he killed someone to sate his hunger.

A great wind suddenly separated him from his teammates and he came face to face with a large snake. The whispering in his mind increased to a zealous chanting, urging him to feed, to devour. The snake collapsed in on itself as Naruto latched onto it, his hands stealing its life.

Invigorated, Naruto made his way back to where his teammates were. Orochimaru was toying with Sasuke while Sakura stood a distance away, unable to do anything.

The first thought Naruto had was that Sakura wouldn't be worth devouring in the end.

The second thought was that Orochimaru was calling to him... the hunger was returning! That damnable craving! Naruto rubbed his stomach, hearing the Kyuubi whisper to him, urging him to strike and devour the strange Grass ninja's life.

Fueled by the Kyuubi's blessing, Naruto rushed forth, trying to strike the snake-like man. He couldn't do anything, but when Orochimaru grabbed him with his tongue, he had an opening. His hands grabbed the slimy appendage and Orochimaru's eyes widened as he felt his life force leaving him.

Slit eyes stared into crimson ones and Orochimaru could not leave. He screamed, afraid of the _genin_ in front of him that was sending his soul to the afterlife.

Naruto collapsed, his stomach completely full. Endorphins flooded his body and he felt happy that his craving for metabolic energy had gone away for the moment. He fell asleep rather quickly.

When he woke up, Sakura was hugging a Sasuke that gave off a malicious feeling. It felt like a spice to Naruto; like something used to give a meal more zest.

They had, however, received the scroll they needed and as such, passed the second exam.

* * *

Naruto felt proud. He had refrained from killing Kiba and had to face a Hyuuga in the next round. Their special brand of taijutsu was completely useless to him. He could simply absorb the chakra used to fuel their strikes and then sap his life force upon contact.

His sensei had passed him off to some pervert who Naruto didn't care about. He ditched the man and found another pervert at the Hot Springs.

Jiraiya had been notified of Naruto's... problem, so to speak. Still, the man taught him summoning and how to call on the Kyuubi's chakra. It took Naruto a week to finish that particular training, so his new, perverted sensei gave him another technique: the Rasengan.

It took him the next two weeks to master it.

When the final round of the chunin exams came, the Kazekage was nowhere to be seen, much to everyone's disbelief. No matter, the invasion would still go on as scheduled.

Naruto ended up nearly killing Neji. The Hyuuga was left unconscious on the ground, his screams echoing in the minds of the audience. Naruto was led away, his stomach churning. He needed sustenance... he needed food! He needed to feed!

When the genjutsu put everyone to sleep, the whispering returned full-force as he followed Gaara, his siblings, and Sasuke. When confronted by Gaara's siblings, Naruto merely created hordes of clones.

One touch meant pain. A secure grip meant death.

With both of the sand siblings dead, Naruto moved forward. Gaara was stuck in a pain-fueled frenzy. He screamed at Naruto, telling him how fighting for yourself is what made someone strong.

Naruto thought for a moment and then responded, "I fight to sate my hunger. Can you sate my hunger, Gaara?"

And then he rushed forward. The chakra sustaining the sand was removed as soon as the sand made physical contact, giving Naruto small morsels as he closed in on Gaara. By the time he got the Gaara, the Suna jinchuriki was covered in sand and rising to the sky.

With the massive power from his feedings and the power granted to him by the Kyuubi, Naruto leapt onto an arm and ran all the way up to the giant tanuki's face. He grabbed Gaara, absorbing everything.

Glorious energy. The feeling of devouring the other Biju's chakra and the rush of killing Gaara made Naruto cackle wildly. Sasuke was horrified and ran, not wanting to be physically grabbed by Naruto next

Naruto giggled to himself and turned tail, heading towards where he thought other jinchuriki were. Maybe even other Kage-level ninja.

He was _hungry._ He needed sustenance. He needed to devour.

* * *

**I needed to get this out of my head. One-shot with a darker Naruto. This can also be seen as a challenge: follow Naruto as he consumes everything to fulfill his hunger. And no, if you do decide to try this challenge out, there can be no pairings. It just wouldn't work since upon physical contact, Naruto feels the desire to feed.**

**In addition, certain terms are used interchangeably in this one-shot, such as energy, metabolic energy, life force, blah blah blah. That kind of thing.  
**

**07/17/2012 EDIT: Thanks to Im Not Itachi for bringing up a certain error.  
**


End file.
